Online Safety

Keeping children safe without using an anti-virus program Since the internet was commercialised in the 1990s, it has evolved into becoming a daily tool used by nearly a third of the worlds population to accomplish a variety of tasks from updating a simple social networking profile, to starting up a successful business. It can now also be accessed through not just a standard desktop computer, but also on the move through laptops and even smart phones or iPhones.

Today's generation of children use technology and the internet more than ever and often starting from a very early age, even showing us adults how to use it. The internet has many benefits that can help with a childs education and open doors to other interests and hobbies. However, there are also many dangers that can get you into trouble if the internet is not used responsibly such as ending up with a computer virus or becoming a victim of phishing scams that steal our personal details using them for fraud or other purposes.

Although you might run an anti-virus programme, or know the required steps in protecting your computer from harm, it doesn't mean your children will understand these steps and the importance of internet security, or knowing which websites to avoid. Young children are also often heavily influenced and, if not careful will not be fully protected online. They can be in danger of being exposed to unsuitable material via search engines, chat rooms and social networking sites. Many children are also capable of installing unwanted downloads or software on computers too. Here you can find various steps in which you can take in making sure your computer and internet is safe for your child to use without knowing how to use the advanced settings within an anti virus or spyware program.

Creating child friendly user accounts

Setting up your childs own user account on your family computer is often a wise idea. It means you can adjust various privacy and safety settings on their account without it affecting your own. If you are wishing to get started in creating a child friendly account on your computer, here is what you need to do.

If you are running Windows 7 as your main operating system, you begin by going to the Start menu, selecting Control panel> User Accounts & Family Safety> Add or remove user accounts> Create a new account. After setting up the account for your child, you can find the option to enable Parental Controls underneath User Accounts within the User Accounts & Family Safety window. For more information, you can visit:

Windows Parental Controls

This page contains a short video tutorial and instructions on how you can set time limits on your childs accounts, controlling what games they are allowed to go on, and keep your child from running any specific programmes you don't want them to.

If you are running on earlier operating systems, user accounts can also be found under the control panel which is found under the main Start button from your computers desktop. Or search the internet for your windows operating system e.g. Windows XP followed by Parental Controls

If you are running a Mac, you start from the apple icon, selecting System Preferences and then Accounts. Click the plus sign button and select Managed with Parental Controls under the first drop down option. For more, please visit:

Apple Parental Controls

Here you will find an instructional video on what other settings you can control within the parental control option for ultimate child security. Your computer should keep itself up to date with Automatic Updates however you may want to make sure that your computer is fully up to date and also it has been set so it will Download and Install updates automatically. Anything from Microsoft Windows is completely trusted to download and install.